


Howling Outside Your Door

by semperama



Series: Tumblr Ficlets - Band of Brothers [5]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Exes, M/M, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-21 06:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11351871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/semperama/pseuds/semperama
Summary: They broke up a while ago, but Ron keeps coming back.





	Howling Outside Your Door

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the song prompt "It Will Come Back" by Hozier.

It couldn’t be anyone else at this hour, with the wind howling outside and the snow blowing horizontal past the window, accumulating in drifts around the trees and along the road. Carwood’s heart is already sinking as he goes to the door, and it drops into the pit of the gut when he opens up to a blast of frigid air and Ron standing on the front stoop, his shoulders hunched to his ears, his face wet and red and otherwise no different than the last time he was here. That was at least six months ago, Carwood thinks. Maybe eight. Maybe longer than that.

“Hello,” Ron says, like they are acquaintances running into each other on the street. The cold puts a tremor in his voice, but he straightens his shoulders under Carwood’s gaze and lifts his chin, and the corner of his mouth pulls upward just enough to set Carwood’s heart thumping.

“How long is your leave?” he asks.

“A few days. I have to be back by tomorrow night.”

The cold is seeping into Carwood now, passing easily through the thin fabric of his undershirt and making him shiver. He can’t stand here with the door open all night, but he isn’t sure he can invite Ron in either. Every time this happens, he tells himself it will be the last time. Every time it gets harder to invite him in, and it gets harder to let him leave.

A couple weeks ago he went on a date with a girl a friend set him up with. Laura was her name. She had dark hair and dark eyes and was tall enough to look at him level. He liked the way the curve of her waist felt under his palm and the way she rushed ahead of him to open the car door for herself, the way she laughed at the expression on his face. For the first time since he came home, since Ron went off to Korea and they broke things off in that hasty way that left so many jagged edges, Carwood had considered the idea that he could maybe fall for someone else. Maybe even get married someday and have children. Maybe lay his head on the pillow at night and close his eyes and sleep easily, with no dreams of Ron lying on some distant battlefield, choking on his own blood.

All of that seems silly now. Impossible. No matter how many times Ron leaves, no matter how far he runs, he always comes slinking back like a dog to Carwood’s doorway. Like he knows where his home is, even though he can’t stop running wild.

“Carwood,” Ron says, his voice so low Carwood can barely hear it over the wind. They are both shivering hard now, and Carwood’s feet have turned to ice. He could invite Ron in and put the kettle on, he thinks. They could have tea in the kitchen and catch up like old friends do, and then he could put Ron up in the guest room and go back to sleep in his own bed. This doesn’t have to be so difficult.

He steps back in silent invitation, and Ron darts quickly through the door like he expects the invitation to be revoked. Carwood shoulders the front door shut against the wind and locks it. He turns and looks at Ron dripping snow in the foyer, making a puddle under his feet.

One of them makes a sound—a deep, desperate sound—but later Carwood will have no idea which of them it was. They meet each other halfway and Ron gets frigid fingers under Carwood’s shirt and Carwood brings his equally cold hands to Ron’s face and they’re still both shivering as hard as if they were standing on the front stoop, being buffeted by the wind. Soon though, Carwood thinks as he pushes his arms inside Ron’s jacket and his tongue into his mouth. Soon they will be warm, so warm.


End file.
